“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and
during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man
for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a
racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and
especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped
make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to
collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central
American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify
Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in
1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American
sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American
fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that
Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might
have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate
his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”
―
Smedley D. Butler,
War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier 1935

("Nothing has changed." Cindy Sheehan, 2013)

Even though I am a staunch supporter of equality, I was not overjoyed
when the Pentagon announced in 2011 that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) was being
repealed. Similarly, as a feminist myself, I am not overjoyed that the
Pentagon is now “lifting the ban” on women in combat.

First of all, since for many decades, only straight males were
technically allowed to serve in combat, I would like the “equality to trend the
other way. A great service to all the women, children, and men of this entire
planet would be achieved if straight males had the same equality to NOT serve
the oil companies and other corporations it the bloodbaths for profit of the
Military Industrial Complex. Shouldn’t a woman in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen,
Mali, Iraq, Gaza (and, unfortunately, more) have an equal right to peace?
Disarm the US or fully arm the women whose countries and families are being
destroyed for the war jackals.

Secondly, my son, Casey, who was KIA in Iraq on April 04, 2004,
reportedly REFUSED to go into combat the day he was killed. One of his fellow
soldiers told me that when Casey was given the order, he said: “No, I’m not
going, I am only a mechanic.” Why must our young people of any gender or sexual
orientation be forced to violate his/her own set of principles? My son joined
for university money and was well aware that he one day might be ordered to
defend his country or community, but it’s been decades (if ever) that the US
has actually been under dire military threat.

Finally, with a reported 90% of female troops being either raped,
sexually molested, or harassed, our young women, wearing the uniform of the
oppressor, have already been in combat, against their own comrades and
superiors! Of course, female soldiers, Marines, or sailors: report at your own risk. There's few "boys clubs" that can compare to the US Military for harsh retribution and injustice.

On the TV box today, I heard current SecDef, Leon Panetta, proclaim that:
“Any citizen who qualifies to be in combat, deserves to." What he
really means is: “We plan on expanding the Empire to all of those fossil fuel
rich areas like Iran and Africa, so we need more cannon fodder.”

As a woman and mother, I dismay on a daily basis that I didn’t better protect
my son from the gore-soaked claws of the US Army; and more importantly, as a
woman and mother (and now grandmother), I could NEVER, EVER in a million years
kill another woman or her child (or, innocent man, for that matter--and all of the oppressed/occupied peoples are innocent).

The US military has long been a malevolent force in the world and war
jackals like Leon Panetta sit safely ensconced in their ivory towers ordering
the poor and disadvantaged children of others to go and do their filthy work. In my experienced opinion, adding more combat-able demographics is nothing to celebrate in a sane world.

In Bizarro-USA (the opposite of the USA we have currently), access to education;
fulfilling employment with a decent wage; healthcare; a clean environment and
sustainable energy (with foods free of GMO’s and other toxins) should be our
basic human rights—not the one where the establishment confers the dishonorable
right to murder, or be murdered for the Evil Empire.

On December 14th, 2012, a horrible tragedy took place at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut. Adam Lanza walked into the school and fatally shot twenty children and six adult staff.

Some of the teachers did everything they could to protect the children, and they are heroes. People like Victoria Soto, Anne Marie Murphy, Kaitlin Roig and others.

One of the things that happened after the shootings, as it unfortunately often does, was that "conspiracy theories" about the attacks started to spring up.

In April 2009, I wrote an article that addresses the practice of saying every horrible thing that happens is a "conspiracy" entitled, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." I wrote:

Over the years, there have been many horrible things that have happened. The Beltway sniper shootings. The Virginia Tech shootings. Currently, we have the "swine flu" scare. Each time something like these events happen, there is ALWAYS someone screaming "false flag terror." This "practice" hurts what we are doing in the 9/11 Truth Movement. If people say that EVERYTHING. is a "conspiracy," then no one will believe us with regards to 9/11. In my humble opinion, it would be a good idea for people in this movement to stick to 9/11, and everything related to it. This is, after all, the 9/11 Truth Movement.

After the shootings occurred, I denounced people that were calling it a "conspiracy" within hours of it happening. The world is a chaotic place, and sometimes, shit happens. I called out people like Gordon Duff and Jim Fetzer who said it was an Israeli operation.

I called out people who were saying the victims family members were actors because they didn't act as "grief-stricken or hysterical" as they thought they should. When I was the Emcee for the Treason in America Conference, I had the pleasure of introducing 9/11 Family Member Bob McIlvaine. Before I did, I remember that I was talking with someone and smiling. The minute I started to talk about Bob, I started to tear up. In other words, I went from normal to teary almost instantly. I think it's wrong to suggest the victims family members are "crisis actors." I think it's disrespectful to say the least.

When Abby Martin did her piece for "Breaking The Set" denouncing the practice of saying everything is a "conspiracy," I PRAISED her, AND I took the two pieces she did, and made it into one video for people.

The practice of saying everything is a "conspiracy" helps to discredit those trying to bring justice for real "conspiracies" and/or crimes.

Want proof?

How did the corporate media deal with these "Sandy Hook Truthers?" Well, there has been article after article denouncing them. Anderson Cooper did an entire segment on them.
They have been portrayed as "dangerous," "mentally ill," and on top of that, they have been compared to "9/11 Truthers."

According to the corporate media's depiction, "Sandy Hook Truthers" and "9/11 Truthers" are one and the same. This depiction now hurts those fighting for justice and accountability for 9/11.

I would like to be able to say that "9/11 Truthers" haven't been peddling the "Sandy Hook Conspiracy," but unfortunately, that is not the case. MANY "9/11 Truth sites" have been peddling it. I wish they didn't, but I can't control what other people do. I can only control what I do, and as I showed above, I was not part of this bandwagon.

Many other advocates for 9/11 Justice weren't either, but you wouldn't know that from the corporate media.

Now, the corporate media has spent YEARS making a "9/11 Truther" or "truther" the equivalent of a baby killer or dog torturer. This latest attack isn't a surprise. However, it doesn't help.

I think people should question EVERYTHING they're told. However, you should do so responsibly and ethically to the best of your ability. Stating that a tragedy is a "conspiracy" within hours of it happening is not being responsible or ethical. Especially if you do it publicly. Especially if you have a large audience. It sure makes certain people money though, doesn't it?

I hate the term "truther." I coined the original term "9/11 Truther," and I am saddened at how it has been portrayed. The lazy corporate media and "debunkers" shortened it to "truther," and now it is what it is. That's why I now say I am an "advocate for 9/11 Justice."

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The following are links to investigations and stories about how the CIA seemingly protected two of the 9/11 Hijackers in San Diego. These investigations were done by Kevin Fenton, Ray Nowosielski, John Duffy, and Rory O'Connor.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

As I,
and about a dozen others made the arduous (by today’s standards) journey to
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from the states in January of 2007, I was
already showing signs of the exhaustion and illness that would lead to my very
publicized “resignation” from being the “face” of the antiwar movement,

Besides me, a mother whose
son was killed in Iraq, in our group were also a mother whose son was killed on
9/11 and who was a member of 9/11 Families for a Peaceful Tomorrow and a mother
whose son, Omar Deghayes, was still being illegally detained by the United
States at what has come to be known as “Gitmo.”

Asif Iqbal, whose story of
illegal capture in Afghanistan in 2001 in a “sweep” where many Muslim men were
captured, kidnapped, and transported to Guantanamo, was also in our contingent
to Guantanamo. Asif and three other friends were born in Great Britain and the
British government could prove that they were innocent, but Asif, and his
friends, were still detained for over two years and subjected to the most
horrible conditions and torture at the hands of the “good guys,” the American
soldiers and CIA stationed there. The story of the “Tipton 3,” (one of their
friends was lost and never heard from again), is told in the docudrama, The Road to Guantanamo.

On January 11th,
2007, our group, many Cubans and a vast cadre of international media, set up
camp outside the barbed wire check point of the prison camp in Guantanamo Cuba.

That day was a blazing hot one and the sun baked down upon us. As this was my first trip to Cuba, I
was amazed at the bucolic nature of the town and it seemed that I had taken a
trip in the Way Back Machine where horses and buggies clip-clopped down the
lanes and electricity was a luxury. Guantanamo, and indeed many places in Cuba, are gorgeous in a very romantic and primitive way, but that does not diminish the hardships that the decades long blockade from the Empire has placed on that undeserving country.

We were all there, of course,
to demand that the US shut the prison camp down, free the detainees that had no
evidence incriminating them; where it was obvious (as it was with the Tipton 3) that
most of the men tortured there were at the wrong place at the wrong time; and,
finally, put the ones who may have been guilty of something, on trial: trials
that would be fair and transparent with all due process given to the accused.

January 11th was the 11th dark anniversary of the opening of that torture facility, but, despite Obama's empty promises, Gitmo remains open with 166 detainees remaining: despicable, illegal, immoral, and just plain degrading to the tortured and torurers alike.

I perused the news and there
was not one mention of this dark anniversary. However, there are many stories
today of the flu and Obama’s appointments to fill vacant cabinet posts: Well,
played, Empire.

There were a couple of
hundred of us protesting in DC today in front of the Supreme Court demanding its immediate closure.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Thursday, January 10, 2013

“If a thousand men were not to pay
their tax-bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody
measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit
violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a
peaceable revolution, if any such is possible.”

Surprise, the US Attorney Has Filed a Law Suit Against You! Cindy Sheehan It’s not a secret, and hasn’t been one for about ...

Loading...

Share It

MISSION STATEMENT

Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox is an independent online radio show and blog that strives to be completely free from establishment political ideology and focus on a message of peace, justice, environmental sustainability and economic equality. To this end, we provide educational and inspirational programs on topics related to these issues and we organize/promote actions working towards peace, justice, and environmental sustainability.